Thursday, March 15, 2012

Avengers Assemble #1

So am I the only one anxious to see the upcoming Avengers movie?

Anticipation is building for it, and as you'd expect, Marvel hopes to tie into the media frenzy as much as humanly possible.

Avengers Assemble is a solid effort in that direction, and a clever bit of work. It manages to use the lineup of heroes from the movie and still fit (as far as I can tell) in Marvel's mainstream continuity.

They've rolled out the top tier of talent creator-wise, with longtime Avengers scribe Brian Bendis providing the story, the excellent Mark Bagley providing the pencils and Danny Miki the inks.

The story starts with the Avengers celebrating the opening of their new headquarters in New York, and you'll spot quite a few heroes that you definitely won't see in the film - but they quickly fade into the background, and when the main action starts, the only Avengers in view are Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye and the Black Widow - with the Hulk being worked in on the side. For some reason, Captain America only gets a cameo in the early part of the issue. (No sign of the Samuel Jackson version of Nick Fury - yet.)

The enemy this time around is a vastly more powerful Zodiac (made up of 12 members, natch - one for each sign), but we barely meet a couple of the members before the issue runs out of space, so we'll see how that goes.

It's not an incredible issue - it's really just the beginning of the story - but it's loaded with action, sharp dialogue, great characters and a general sense of fun.

Looking forward to future issues!

Grade: A-

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